The Desert Incident
by WatWriting
Summary: Oneshot. People say unexpected circumstances are the best way to judge a character, and Professor Hojo agrees.


**Name:** Cloud Strife

**Current Rank:** Infantryman

**Description:** White; Blonde; Blue eyes; Light Weight; 169 cm; (See Medical Sheet for definite measurements.)

**Origin:** Nibelheim;

**Birth Parents:** Gaia Strife; Unknown;

**Date of Birth:** 11/08/1986 (Suspected of having put in the wrong day so that he could enroll a year earlier.)

**Personality:** Smart; Quiet; Shy; Obeys Orders; Stubborn; Occasionally Aggressive;

**Training Performance:** (See Performance Sheet for detailed information, along with his grades.)

**Notes on Performance:**

Could be better, is more than a decent marksman but there are signs of him being able to handle swords better than guns – unfortunately he is currently below the weight requirement for his height to start sword training.

Failed his first SOLDIER entrance exam because of lack of lack of physical endurance. Claims he was sabotaged.

Does not seem to like working with other cadets, but after meeting SOLDIER First Class Zachary Fair he has been getting better at it.

Psychological Evaluation said that he was a young man with high ambitions, but tended to contradict himself if anything went wrong and had trust issues.

* * *

Absolute rubbish, all of it was absolute trash! This didn't tell him anything you couldn't see at face value!

Anyone could tell that boy was shy from the way he seemed to disappear into the crowd whenever he was no longer needed, and it wasn't too hard to guess just what those ambitions were if he tried to enter the SOLDIER program. This file told him nothing.

Ah well, perhaps he was too used to working with SOLDIERS, most of who had files well more lengthy and some even personally edited to his liking.

He wasn't masochistic to the point of taking interest in all of the Mako enhanced troops in this building, he had more than his hands full with his own perfect creation, but here and there he found some individuals that reacted in interesting ways to Mako and he simply had to keep an eye on them.

But the problem lies exactly in that – he was looking at the file of an Infantryman that failed the entrance exam into SOLDIER, meaning he had no Mako in him. Yes, there were occasions where that happened before, such as there being a lack of available hands in the medical bay or simply an issue that the barrack's infirmary couldn't solve.

Thinking on that for a moment, Hojo realized he did remember meeting this particular Infantryman on such an occasion. There was an episode where a powerful fire Materia had been taken from one Materia Class and then used inside the barracks. The explosion took out a third of the large room, and while there had been only two causalities, there were more injured than what both medical bays could hold. _(It ended up being an AVALANCHE spy, but that didn't interest him.)_

What interested him was that while the Strife boy was one of the people closest to the center of the explosion, he managed to save himself and another nameless Infantryman from having to regrow all of their skin. But heroics don't come cheap these days, and Strife was one of the longest to heal.

First come, first serve was the rule for potions that time and Hojo had no patience to run around for the sake of one Infantryman when he could just as simply set it healing the good old fashioned, painful way.

And to his surprise, that boy had more pain tolerance than a lot of the Third Class SOLDIERS he had to deal with. Tch, these days they relied on potions for everything; from a paper cut to being gutted alive.

Of course, he couldn't keep the boy in his lab - well he _could_, but they were expecting him back - and eventually potions where back in stock. It only took one potion to heal his scorched back and arms, without a mark to ever identify there was a burn there.

There were two that things caught his attention that week, the pain tolerance and the healing. Now Hojo chastised himself for not continuing to observe that blonde mess of hair from then on…

Bah, what was the point of trying to argue with himself? He did what he thought was best at that time, and it wasn't like his hands weren't full with everything else he had to do!

Still, none of that explained why he was looking through Cloud Strife's file _now_, so perhaps it was best to just say the following: any specimen is best analyzed when it doesn't know it's being watched.

It has been roughly four months since the fire Materia episode, and Professor Hojo's interest in the blonde Infantryman was sparked again after last week's …incident. It wasn't planned, which Hojo both despised and loved. The specimen's reactions to whatever was going on would be pure, but there was no way for Hojo to control the situation to his liking.

* * *

Cloud Strife just happened to be one of the unfortunate troopers accompanying him to his monster dumping site that also doubled as a field SOLDIER training ground. He wasn't alone, no. There were eleven more Infantrymen that day, along with two SOLDIER thirds. _(Really, there was no need to bring that many people, but it was demanded of him. For each monster, there had to be three common Infantrymen.)_

The most unfortunate thing happened, would you believe. It just so happened that the truck containing the monstrosities he created had faulty brakes and ended up crashing into the truck with all the soldiers in it. As he said before, this time it was not his fault, and he didn't even know cadet Strife would be there. Had he planned this, he would have been in another vehicle, as he normally did. _(Some nobody decided to slash his tires. Now they had no body.)_

Considering both trucks were going at a high speed, once the first one started braking and panicked shouting came from the receiver on the driver's dashboard, the genius driving the truck ahead decided turning was the best option. All it did was make both trucks to fall on their sides and break open one of the cages holding in the monsters.

Commotion didn't start straight away, as the driver above him was unconscious, much like most of the Infantrymen. They were all seated with their belts, but the whiplash made them hit their heads quite hard against the metal of their vehicle.

Hojo himself had an antagonizing headache and a shattered nose, and couldn't leave because of the unconscious third class above him, only held in place by his seat belt. At least he was safer inside the vehicle than outside, if the howling and growling in the back was anything to go through. And then there was a loud bang along with creaking metal, and Professor Hojo couldn't hold in the delirious giggle that escaped him.

_Oops, looks like one of them has escaped!_

And so most, if not all Infantrymen were completely useless, and if the third class above him didn't wake up soon, the other one would be in quite a bit of trouble. These two cannon fodder class SOLDIERS were brought along mostly as muscle and back up to help move his monsters, they certainly weren't expected to fight them!

While the monster was stalking behind the truck, Hojo saw movement at the other truck.

The other third was apparently conscious, and decided to quietly get out of the driving seat and try to check on everyone in the back. Unfortunately, he wasn't quiet enough, and he was quickly tackled by the escaped monster – something between a wolf and a very angry bear. And it happened to be extremely venomous. At least he was smart enough to bring his sword with him, but it did little but keep the beast's mouth away from his face.

Soon enough, the third was calling for help, seemingly for anyone that heard him as his arms started to buckle and a sloppy slice of a paw scratched his chest.

_Oho that's unfortunate. I wonder if they realize even a scratch will poison them?_

Professor Hojo was also obligated to give them a warning about each monster least they escape, and while he did so, he rightly assumed no one would listen. Sighing in irritation, Hojo reached for the receiver to send a distress signal – missing the movement at the back of the other truck.

His own voice irritated him then, even more nasal than usual, and with the small amount of blood constantly trickling down his throat he managed to sound hoarse.

But his mental complaints were interrupted when gunshots came from outside, and in the minute or so that the distress call took, the SOLDIER third was down for the count, one leg practically stripped off its muscle tissue. And on top of the other truck's front stood a short, slightly limping Infantryman just shooting his monster in the face.

_Cute, he thinks that'll work._

Ah, but maybe if Hojo wasn't being distracted by the loudly buzzing pain in his head, he would have realized that was just a distraction. During the shooting, the trooper had taken out both eyes and thrown a bag at the barely conscious third, who crawled closer and almost swallowed the whole container in his haste to drink an antidote, and after digging around for a moment pulled out the measly level one restore material meant for 14 men. Without so much as a glance at the trooper above him, the third class focused on healing himself continuously.

Of course, if you knew anything about using Materia, you knew that using it too much would wipe you out just as quickly as being hit in the head with a sturdy iron rod a few times. And so that young and promising individual promptly passed out after healing himself. At least he wasn't awake to feel his stomach being crushed as the now blind monster stomped around on both back feet as it held its face in pain.

Considering that the trooper on the top of the truck was more interesting than the standard knuckle headed SOLDIER, Hojo snickered as he practically felt the disappointment flow out of the young man's body. Unfortunately for the nameless standard army soldier, so could the monster.

What happened next absolutely threw him for a loop. The beast jumped higher than should be possible and tackled the young man, hard enough to make his helmet fly off and crack most of his ribs. That was expected.

But instead of being turned into a mess of gore, the Infantryman kicked the monster off him with strength only Mako enhanced should have. Of course, Hojo could hear a very pained scream accompanying the kick, and he was reminded that that trooper was limping before having all of their ribs pureed. It left him even more curious…

_Some humans can really break through their bodies' limitations in times of stress._

But it didn't stop there, no. As the raging monster prepared to jump up again, Professor Hojo saw the blonde trooper jump down and grab the Third's discarded sword before rolling to the side. Now that single trooper was armed with both a sword and his standard issue rifle.

_If he dies, it'll be vaguely interesting to find out just what gave him his sudden burst of strength._

The monster relied heavily on his sight, but now that it was gone it had to rely on its other senses, which told it his target had moved to his left. Just as it prepared to tackle, the blonde man quietly got down on one knee and aimed for the thing's chest. When it jumped at him, Strife _(that was his name, wasn't it?)_ started shooting and ducked so that it jumped above him. It was a smart move, but he didn't duck low enough.

On one side, he had pretty deep claw marks bleeding on his back. On the other, the monster didn't expect for nothing to be there and tripped, crawling momentarily on the floor in confusion.

While most other Infantrymen would be busy writhing in pain, Strife apparently understood that the world didn't turn around him and jumped on top of the monster's back. Yes, his glasses were cracked but Professor Hojo was sure that was what he saw.

Even angrier, from the bullet wounds in its chest and the strange weight on its back, the hybrid monster quickly jumped up and roared, trying to shake off the offending body on its back.

But Strife held on, and carefully raised the sword to the beast's neck. But as it buckled under him, he must have realized that he wouldn't be able to do it with one hand. Seeing no other choice, while the monster was taking a short break in its struggling, Strife grabbed the blade's edge with his gloved hand and pulled – which quickly made the beast under him start moving again, distressed at the pressure at its neck.

Really Strife's job was cut out for him, as after a particularly vicious struggle the sword finally broke through its hard skin and cut its neck. But Strife held on, hands not moving from their place until the beast collapsed on its stomach, still alive but bleeding out.

At this point, Hojo could hear the sound of two helicopters coming at a high speed, and at a slightly larger distance a transporter on the ground. It was always bad news when something went wrong with his monster deliveries, after all.

Seeing as the beast was too tired to move, Strife finally allowed his arms to move away from the beast's neck, one hand bleeding viciously. But it was still alive, and so with shaking arms Strife positioned the sword between two ribs and stood up on shaking legs. And then he fell back down on his knees, stabbing it through its back using what weight he had to force it through the skin and tissue.

After that, Strife was breathing hard and loosing blood fast, but he didn't move from his kneeling position on the monster's back, hands clasped tightly against the sword's hilt.

About forty eight seconds later, both helicopters landed near his position and some first class ran towards Strife, placing a hand on their back before quickly recoiling it back at the feel of blood. Other people ran out to check the back of both trucks and a SOLDIER second was running towards his position to pull out the still unconscious third. Perhaps he was dead; Hojo didn't care enough to check, as his eyes were following the blonde trooper.

He had collapsed, as Hojo expected.

While he probably saved the lives of his fellow troopers, his own body went through an awful strain and used every bit of energy he had. Zachary Fair, the First Class he recognized, busied himself with running towards the helicopter from which he came, the other male in his hands and completely unconscious.

When he was finally out of Professor Hojo's eyesight, the whole scene played over in his head, each act pointed out in detail. Yes, that boy had something. As the Third above him was pulled out like dead weight, Hojo grabbed the hand offered to him and unbuckled himself from the seat. As he was being pulled out, Hojo laughed and was nearly dropped by the scared Second Class.

Yes, he didn't care how long it would take. That boy would be on his table one way or another.


End file.
